


Missing In Action

by Multifandom_damnation



Category: Batman (Comics)
Genre: Animal Death, Bat Brothers, Bat Family, Cassandra Cain is Black Bat, Family Dynamics, Gambling, Gen, Harm to Animals, Implied/Referenced Drug Use, Insanity, Intrigue, Missing Persons, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Rescue Missions, Riddles, Suspicions, Team as Family
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-02-13
Updated: 2019-07-16
Packaged: 2019-10-27 11:10:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 9,141
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17765690
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Multifandom_damnation/pseuds/Multifandom_damnation
Summary: One week. One whole week since Batman had been missing in Gotham, one week since Bruce Wayne contacted an illness that had left him bed-ridden, one week since the crime in Gotham city had doubled and became more vicious.The mighty Batman disappears unexpectantly, without a word and without a trace and it's up to the remaining family that's he's left behind to search every nook and cranny of Gotham City to find him. And maybe, just maybe, get some help or hindrance from some of the baddies who might or might not be involved.Will they find Batman or will the world forget about his light before it's too late?





	1. Gone

**Author's Note:**

> Listen- I have had this in my WIP folder for over a year and now I finally get to post it because I got off my ass and finished it. I hope you enjoy it and that you don't think it's too far fetched. x Also, the tags are going to be so long and I apologize for that. All the tags are going to be long and unnecessary so sorry in advance.

**The night was dark, the streetlights dulled with foggy vision and the cracks in his visor, the stars indistinguishable blurs. He could taste blood in his mouth, feel it dripping through the holes in his suit until he was drowning in it. He could feel it congesting in his throat, his breathing becoming harsh and ragged, desperate as the buildings of his city rose up from the foundations to swallow him whole.**

**His cape, covered in holes and tears now, blood and glass and tiny shards of loose bone, billowed around him like broken wings, _broken bat wings_ his mind supplies later, engulfing him as he fell to the hard streets below.**

**Bruce knew them, knew the sick curve of their grin and the twisting of their hands as he spent hours of his life analysing their very existence in his town. But they weren’t alone. No, someone else had helped orchestrate Batman’s demise and plunge to the concrete of Gotham roads. Many someones, if the evidence led to anything.**

**But now he was falling, no handholds to grab onto, no gadgets to reach, nobody to call, and as the earth rose to meet him and the buildings engulfed him, Bruce felt the earth open into a wide, gaping maw, gagged teeth and wide red smile that cracked and bled at the edges and from the deepest pits of Bruce’s consciousness, he heard the laughter.**

**Closing his eyes to await the impact of the hallucination disappearing and the ground destroying him instead, Bruce thought of his parents, of Alfred, of his family and friends, accepting the end they all knew was near, and he held his breath.**

**No impact came and Batman was swallowed by the darkness.**


	2. Lost

One week. One whole week since Batman had been missing in Gotham, one week since Bruce Wayne contacted an illness that had left him bed-ridden, one week since the crime in Gotham city had doubled and became more vicious.

Nightwing stood on the tall building overlooking the GCPD station, watching the grey smoke curl off of Jim Gordon's cigar as he stood by the brightly lit Bat-Signal, shining its beacon into the sky. “Oracle, I’m at the station.” He said into his coms, hearing the activated click of Barbra linking in. “I’ll keep you posted.”

“Tell him I said hello,” Barbara told him with a yawn. It had been a long week for them all.

Smiling, Nightwing dropped off the call. “Will do,” Stepping off the building and plummeting into a free fall, he raised his arms to his sides and landed silently on the buildings behind Gordon. “Your daughter says hello.”

To his credit, Commissioner Gordon didn’t flinch, only sighed and slowly turned around, as if he were used to the sudden appearance. “Any word?”

“Not yet, we’re still on the lookout. The crime scene hasn’t shown much, but we know there were more than one.”

“You still don’t think it was Joker’s doing?”

Nightwing shook his head. “I’ve got eyes on him, he’s still in Arkham. So if he was involved, it wasn’t directly.”

Gordon took his cigar out of his mouth and blew a thick stream of smoke into Gotham’s sky. “It’s unusual for him to just disappear without any word, isn’t it? I mean, you kids must be worrying yourselves sick looking for him.”

 _Still thinks we’re kids,_ Nightwing thought fondly _, after what he knows we’ve been through, we’ll always be kids to him._ “I think he was taken. He leaves a voice log or a clue when he leaves, he never just goes silent.” He explained. “This was planned. I don’t know by who, but I’ve sent Red Robin up to the crime scene, Red Hood and his team are doing perimeter, Robin and Penny-1 are helping Oracle go through databases and cameras. Everyone else is our search party inside Gotham.”

“I suppose this means you’re in charge now, huh?” Gordon asked with a tired smile. “I mean, you’re the oldest. Most experienced. I doubt even Alfred would take superiority.”

Gnawing at his lip, Nightwing nodded. “Nobody likes it, but he made me second in command in case he ever went silent, so I could ‘take over the mantle’ if he never came back. Strictly speaking-” he raised his arms- “I should be wearing the cowl and cape night now, flying over Gotham as the big-bad-bat.”

“I’m sure you’re doing a great job, looking after all your younger siblings in a crisis like this.” Gordon rubbed his forehead, tracking cigarette ash and dirt from the roof across his skin. “I mean, your dad’s gone missing and you’ve been left in charge to pick up the pieces. That’s no small task.”

“Thanks, Commissioner. I just wish-” A frantic beeping from his headset interrupted his train of thought and he held his hand up to Gordon to tell him to wait. “Go ahead, Red Robin.”

“Nightwing!” Red Robin sounded out of breath and excited, voice somewhat static-like from an area of bad reception. “I think I found something. Meet me at the crime scene, top floor.”

“On my way. Keep me posted.” Nightwing turned and smiled sadly at the other man. “Sorry, Tim got a lead. I’ll keep in touch, but I have to go.”

Nodding, Jim took a step towards Nightwing and put a hand on his shoulder. “You’ll find him, Dick.” He assured. “You always do.”

With a fake salute, Nightwing leapt off of the GCPD station and into the cool, musty air. 

* * *

 Red Robin was waiting for him at the tower, crouching with his hand against the floor, tracing his fingers against the broken glass and blood. “What you got for me, Tim?”

Tim stood. “I know at least Ivy was here,” He pointed towards the far wall, where vines and carnations were crawling up the sides. “She left us a gift.”

Sighing, Nightwing made his way over to it, tracing his fingers lightly over the delicate patterns. “I would have taken a lot of bribing to get Ivy involved.” He mused. “And for her to put her plants here in danger as a calling card?”

“Maybe it’s not bribery.” Red Robin suggested, running his fingers over the panels that made the up the inside of the tower. “Maybe she had no choice. Or she’s being controlled again?”

“I have no idea, Timmy, but this is starting to worry me.”

There was a loud _clang!_ as one of the panels, Tim had touched fell out of the wall and landed heavily on the floor, a large green question mark painted on the other side.

“For the love of-” Dick sighed, rubbing the bridge of his nose. “How many baddies are involved in this?”

“Well, so far two.” Reaching down, Tim picked up the panel, scanning the Ridder’s calling card to send to Barbara and those down in the cave. “It’s not unusual for Nigma to get involved in something like this. His plans are never this… well executed.

“I got it, Tim,” Came Barbara’s voice in his ear, accompanied by the clicking of her mouse and the tapping of keys. “Look for a riddle. They usually come hand in hand.”

“Copy that, Oracle.” Tim relayed as he joined his brother in their search.

After a few minutes of fruitless searching, their coms beeped again and Harpers' voice came through the speaker. “Yo, Nightwing, I just found a riddle. Are we looking for riddles now? Because I found one, by Wayne Tower.”

“Can you read it aloud?” Dick asked, straightening.

“’I sleep by day, I fly by night, I have no wings, to aid my flight.’ That sounds a little too much like a bat to me.”

“Keep in touch,” Dick told her, turning and facing Tim to share his confused expression. “Tell us if you find anything. Oracle, let the rest of the team know that we’re looking out for Nigma’s riddles and that Ivy is involved.”

“Will do boss,” Harper said as she shut off the link.

“Be careful,” Barbara warned as she did the same.

“That sounds like a first riddle,” Tim muttered, eyeing the tower again. “Why would a first riddle be at Wayne Tower if this is where he went missing?”

“Maybe it _was_ the first one?” Dick ponded, pulling out an escrima stick and rattling it long the panels with a hollow _tat tat tat._ “Maybe Bruce just didn’t tell us? This could have been months in the making.”

Tim sat down on his hunches, staring intently at the floor like the Joker would spring up out of it. “There has to be something...” A pause. “There’s something here.” Lying down on his stomach, Tim placed his eyes on the floor and shouted in triumph. “Ah ha! Eureka!” He rose to his knees and pulled his brother by the crook of his elbow onto the floor with him to look. “You have to be at the right angle, see? It’s like an optical illusion, painted in pearlescent green.”

“’At night they fly, you better run, these winged things, are not much fun’…?” Dick recited, confused as he leant his forehead to the floor and sighed harshly through his nose. “That could either be bats or owls and neither option is good.”

“We’re forgetting about Man-Bat.” Tim pointed out, “This whole thing could be a wild goose chase.”

Shaking his head, Dick rose and waved vaguely towards Ivy’s vines. “Isley wouldn’t get involved in a wild goose chase.”

“Right,” Tim said as he climbed to his knees and counted on his fingers. “We know that at least Ivy and Riddler were involved, and were both here when it happened.”

“Not necessarily.” Dick interrupted. “Edward usually knows where the crimes are taking place, so he could have done it beforehand. And he went missing a week ago and we’ve been here every night since.” He pointed again to the vines. “And we only see those now? They’re not exactly hiding. She must have put them there recently.”

Tim dropped his hands limply to his sides. “So we’ve got nothing.”

“Uh huh.”

“Well, the Court of Owls took him before. He was missing for like, month then, right? Maybe Riddler was giving us a clue to his location?” Tim shrugged. “I mean; he’s done it before.”

Biting his lip, Dick rubbed his hands through his hair. “You’re not wrong, but we don’t even know where they took him last time. We’d never be able to find him if they brought him to the same place.” He dropped his hands and walked towards the shattered window, glaring out at Gotham as though it would throw Batman at his face instead of forcing him to worry. “We have to keep looking though. We can’t give up.” He glanced back at Tim. “Will you be back at the Cave for the meeting?”

Tim nodded. “I think I like you being in charge more than Bruce.” He joked. “You at least don’t force us to come in our uniforms.”

Dick smiled seemingly the most genuine all week. “I always told you I was better. Just make sure you being news and a takeout run and I’m easy.” His grin fell, and he looked out the window again, his hand on the side to balance himself with the heavy wind blowing against his face. “I’ll see you there.”

Without waiting for the reply Dick already knew the answer to, he fell off the building and tumbled through the air, his grappling hook catching the tiling of another building as he soared through the night in the direction of his next haunt. 

* * *

 

As Dick was leaping from rooftop to rooftop, taking small moments of peace above the city he loved to feel the breeze against his face and the night-time sounds of Gotham city floating through the air like the raising of heat on a summers day, a cruel beeping in his ear ruined his silence. “Nightwing here, what is it?”

“Listen, Dick, I know I promised I’d help you look but I can exactly do that if I don’t know what I’m looking for,” Jason sounded exasperated on the other end of the line and in the background, Dick swore he could hear Kori and Roy bickering. “And I’m more than happy to just search around and call in if I spot anything that could be of use, but at the moment we’re just looking for nothing in particular. Is there anything you want us to spot other than the riddles and the calling cards?”

Sighing, Dick paused his rooftop bounding to survey the city from above. “We’ve found nothing yet. So far that’s all the leads we have so it’s probably best if you guys just continue a patrol for now. I’ll update you when we know more.”

“Will do,”

“Jay?” Dick called his brother’s name right as he was about to hang up the call and he heard Jason hum in response and surprise. “Will you be at the meeting tonight? I’m calling everyone into the cave so we can have a talk about what to do.”

Jason knew all too well how important the meetings were at times like these and had almost felt guilty at not attending the other ones that had occurred throughout the week. “Yeah Dickie, I’ll be there. Don’t you worry. You didn’t think I was going to pass up on a chance to make your life difficult, did you?”

“Smart ass,” Dick managed to get in one snarky comment of the breath of a laugh as Jason’s guffaws drowned out most of the sound and he closed the connection with a _click_. Dick continued the rest of his trek towards the cave in silence, lost in this thoughts. 

* * *

 

Back in the cave, Dick pinched the bridge of his nose and held back a sigh as he watched his family below him bicker and fight, voices raising to louder and louder decibels in an attempt to get their point across. Dick watched them with disinterest because he knew they were all running in circles trying to come up with answers and clues and point fingers of blame even though it was obvious that there was none.

Alfred was at the very back of the small huddle they had formed, dabbing the perspiration from his forehead with a napkin, the tray of drinks on the trolley beside him momentarily forgotten. Barbara’s face was blown up on the computer screen and her concern was palpable even from where she was at her station. Kate, Steph and Cass spoke amongst themselves and compared notes and findings about what they had found in the places they had investigated and Damian was screaming at the top of his lungs at Tim, who had his fists clenched at his sides as Damian poked him in the chest and even from where he was on the platform Dick could see how much Tim was struggling to hold back and be the bigger man.

In reality Dick knew they were all scared shitless and that they were all worried about their father/mentor, that all of the fighting and yelling and even the quiet conversations were their different ways of coping with such a stressful scenario and Dick genuinely felt terrible about denying them their chances of venting but they were getting nowhere quick. “Alright, guys, that’s enough.” Reluctantly, the chattering ceased and everyone turned to look at him. He had removed his domino mask and he now held it at his side, his hand on his hip. “Does anybody have any leads that could relate to someone other than Ivy and Riddler?”

The room was silent and this time Dick couldn’t hold back his sigh. “You mean to tell me that you scrounged every nook and cranny of Gotham City and you couldn’t find any more clues?”

“It’s a big city,” Harper retorted. “Even all of us looking wouldn’t have been able to cover it all.”

“Maybe zilch has happened yet?” Kate suggested. “Maybe we’re looking for nothing because there isn’t anything there to find. Someone could be playing with us, leaving us clues to find him but making us wait until it becomes unbearable.”

From where he was standing above them on one of the many catwalks that crisscrossed the cave, Jason drummed his fingers on the railing, his helmet on the floor beside him. “Maybe they’re giving us clues one at a time. Make us feel like it’s hopeless and then slowly give us answers. A test, more than a game. Trying to see if we can figure it out without help before they give us the next piece of the puzzle.” When the others all glared up to look at him in confusion, he shrugged his shoulders and starred back down at them in defiance, a fierce look that was amplified now that his mask was in his pocket. “What? It’s what I would do.”

“The big question is who's running it.” Tim ran an anxious hand through his already messy hair. “We know Ivy and Riddler are in it for some reason, but we don’t know who's got them all together. It has to be someone big, someone that's even bigger than Ivy. It can’t be the Joker because Dick says he’s still in Arkham.” Dick nodded in confirmation. “So that means it has to be someone else.”

“Harley?” Cass suggested, scuffing her shoes and glancing past the glare of the overhead lights to squint up at Jason. She waved and he waved back and she beamed.

“Maybe, but I don’t think anyone would listen to her without the Joker at her back,” Steph said. “Especially if everyone knows he’s in Arkham, then she wouldn’t have any threats to use.”

“So we’re back to square one,” Dick resisted the urge to yell, to growl, to throw something heavy and breakable across the room and listen to the satisfying shatter but he knew, now of all times, he had to keep it together. “And we have no new information than we had a week ago.”

There was a sharp bit of static and loud ringing through the speakers of the cave as Barbara sighed through her nose. “I’ve been trying to keep an eye on the cameras for the building but they were all disabled a few minutes prior to the disappearance.” She adjusted her glasses. “I’ll keep looking through security feeds and I’ll make sure dad and the other officers at GCPD has a good look around the scummy parts of day-time Gotham but there’s not much else I can do.”

“No worries Babs, you’ve done enough. Go and take a break, we’ll talk tomorrow.” Dick reassured and with a swift goodnight to the rest of the family she logged off the call. Dick turned back to the rest of the group. “Right, tomorrow Damian and I will search the tower while Tim helps the Outlaws at the docks. See if you can figure out a way to search under the water, I’m sure Roy has a way. The rest of you-”

Before Dick could finish, a loud techno ring-tone came from Harper's pocket and she smiled apologetically at the others as she fished it out, the others waiting patiently until she finished. “Hey, Cullen, sorry I’m out so late, there was- wait, slow down, are you ok? Slow down Cullen, slow- _blood_? In our apartment?” She glanced up in panic at the rest of the room and the others shared her sentiment. “A rabbit’s head?  Alright, Cullen hold on, I’m on my way. Don’t touch it and don’t call the police yet, I’m bringing some of the others. I know you are, just hold tight, I’ll be there soon. I love you, stay calm.”

As she ended the call and looked up at her family in distress, Dick leapt off the platform and made his way towards the exit, Jason copying his movements from above. “Well, now we know who else is involved in this.” He waved his hand above his head. "Everyone else, go take a much-earned break. We've got this from here."

“And who do you think could possibly involved in this, Master Richard?” Alfred asked, confused from behind him. “Surely you can’t know who did this by half of a phone call.”

Against his will, Dick felt some phantom of a smile crawl across his face at the idea of finally getting some sort of lead that could help them find their father. “Not really, but the only person who would be crazy enough to put a rabbit’s head in Harper's apartment is the Mad Hatter.”


	3. Trickery

When they arrived at the apartment Harper shared with her brother, she threw open the door and nearly slipped on the pooling puddle of blood by the door, Cullen’s bloody footsteps leading away towards the shared bedroom. There were two bags of groceries on the floor, the items spilling out and rolling across the room. As Harper sprinted off in that direction, calling her brother’s name, Dick followed the trail of blood to the rabbit’s head that was positioned in the middle of the room.  He made a face as he maneuvered around the blood and crouched down beside it.

Tim and Jason tumbled into the room behind him, skidding on the puddle and making their way to Dick’s side. “This is ridiculous,” Jason said, looking around the room. “How did they know where they live? Why the hell did they target Cullen?”

“I don’t think Cullen was the target,” Tim pointed out as he searched the room for anything out of the ordinary. “Maybe it was for Harper? I think a few people by now know who we are under the masks. And I’m sure the Joker would have been happy to throw us under the bus for a practical joke. Especially one this big.”

Shaking his head, Dick stood and put his hands on his hips. “That’s not really Joker's style. He likes keeping his cards close to his chest. Harley, on the other hand, is a completely different story. She may not have total power over the situation, but I have no doubt that she’s involved somehow. Maybe she told whoever did this where to bring it?”

Jason walked over to the rabbit and lifted it up from the floor by the ear, strings of blood to flowing out from where it was stoppered before. “Jason, stop that, put it down,” Tim snapped, walking over and trying to take it from Jason’s grip but Jason moved his arm out of the way and blood splattered all over the apartment at the motion. “You’re tampering with evidence and ruining their apartment!”

“Relax, Timbo. Take that stick out of your ass for a sec and let me check something out,” Jason’s face wasn’t visible under the hood but they were sure he was rolling his eyes at them. He shook the head a couple of times and more blood poured out but they heard something pop and suddenly a gush of green liquid and confetti dribbled to the floor to puddle and mix with the blood. “Well, defiantly Jervis. I’d know this green stuff anywhere, and the confetti is probably Harley or some other fun-loving psycho. I don’t know what you want to do with the head but I know I would like to let it go now so if you could take a sample of the green stuff that would be great.”

As Tim knelt to take a sample and send it off to the cave, grumbling obscenities under his breath, Dick stood up and made his way over to the bookshelf where something had caught his eye. He pulled down a copy of 'Alice in Wonderland' and ran his finger over the bloodied hand-print on the spine. “Yep, we can count the Hatter in on this. He never could avoid a little late night reading.”

There were soft whispers from the other room and the others wiped their hands and took off their blood-speckled boots before entering the bedroom where the Row siblings were seated on one of the beds, Harper holding her quietly sobbing brother to her chest as Cullen shook, his hands fisted in the fabric of her uniform.

Tim approached them and sunk to his knees on the ground beside Cullen and put a comforting hand on his arm. Harper stopped running her fingers through his hair as the others walked in to join them. “The shave’s looking pretty good man.” Jason gave him a thumbs up and Cullen shakily smiled back. “Not as choppy as it was the last time we saw you, but you’re defiantly growing into it.”

“Can you tell us what happened, Cullen?” Tim asked and Cullen blushed. Jason and Dick exchanged a knowing look and hid their smiles behind their hands.

Cullen took a trembling breath and pulled away from his sister but making sure he still had at least one hand fisted into her shirt. “I went to pick up the groceries and when I opened the door I stepped into a huge puddle of blood and I followed the trail to the head.” He shivered. “And then I called Harper and stayed in here.” He glanced apologetically up at his sister. “I’m sorry I wasted the money you gave me for groceries. I dropped them when I walked in and I think some of them may have rolled into the blood.”

“It’s fine, Cullen,” Harper squeezed her brother tightly. “I’ll just work a double shift tomorrow.”

“You did a good job, calling your sister instead of trying to deal with it yourself.” Dick praised, trying to keep Cullen calm despite the obvious hysteria and insanity of the situation. “I’m glad you called us before the police, but I’m just going to let Barbara know what we found.” He nodded to Cullen before leaving the room, a hand to his ear. “Yeah Babs, I know I said you could have the night off but…”

Gulping, Cullen leant into his sisters warm and comforting embrace. “Do you think it’s going to happen again?”

Tim glanced up at Cullen and ran his hand up and down his knee. “No, I don’t think so. But if it makes you feel safer, you can always spend a couple of nights at Wayne Manor- the others will make sure you’re well protected. Nobody can get in there without any of us knowing and Alfred will take care of you. Harper can stay too if she wants,” he added before Cullen could ask the question. “You know we always have some rooms set up for both of you if you ever want to stay over.”

Harper smiled down at Tim. “Thanks, Timmy, I knew you weren’t all that bad.”

Jason had wandered into the other room after Dick and now his voice came from somewhere unseen. “Guys,” he said sharply. “You might want to look at this. I’ve found another riddle.” 

* * *

“What the hell was that supposed to mean?” Dick muttered as they made their way home from the apartment, Harper and Tim close behind. Jason had taken Cullen to the manor before making his own way back to the closest safe house, where Roy and Kori were waiting. “And how in the world did the Riddler manage to hide it in there without Jervis knowing?”

“Maybe Riddler was with him?” Tim suggested as he idly flicked through the ‘Alice in Wonderland’ book that Jason had found the riddle in. “Maybe it’s all one big plot.”

“Can you read the riddle again?” Harper asked

Tim cleared his throat as he opened to the correct page and turned on his coms. “Everyone ready? Here comes the riddle again. _‘The game is nice if you see pictures thrice. It bears fruit of trees, sometimes in threes. It is just an arm’s length in front of you,’_. Does anyone know what that could mean?”

Nobody answered Tim for a long while until Stephanie, half awake and annoyed at being disturbed from her sleep, spoke up in confusion. “I don’t know much but I know that sounds like a poker machine. You know, the slots.”

“Alright Brown, but why would the Riddler be sending us to a random slot machine?” Damian retorted and Stephanie’s offended scoff could be heard over the coms. “That’s just a stupid idea altogether.”

“If I could make a suggestion, Master Timothy,” Alfred interrupted before things could get any more heated than they already were and nobody would dare interrupt Alfred. “But that sounds an awful lot like a casino to me. Could it be that we are being directed to the Penguins Iceberg Lounge?”

There was a murmur of agreement but Barbara spoke up. “If that’s the case and casino is the answer, then it could just be telling us to go to one of the many casinos’ in Gotham. Almost every block has at least one.”

Surprisingly, it was Roy who piped up on the coms, voice hushed and edge with a loud ringing sound. “Hey, sorry but I was listening and just needed to put my two cents in. Don’t ask why I was listening- I’m trying to add things to Jason’s helmet but everyone is asleep so I can’t be too loud. If you want my opinion, the casino the riddle is referring to is the one that the Hatter’s usual haunts. We’ve taken him out there before. I’m not much of a tactician, but sending a few teams to both places would be a good idea, I think.”

“Oh wow, Roy.” Dick teased, “You finally had a good idea.”

“Hardy-ha.”

“Right, new plan. Tim, Damian and I will check out the casino that Jervis spends the most time at. Roy, can you take the Outlaws and scout out the Iceberg Lounge? Take Cass- she’s quiet. The rest of you take a break for the night and we’ll let you know if we need back up.

As everyone said their goodnights and Harper continued her journey to Wayne Manor, Tim turned to Dick and sent him such a worrying look that Dick’s heart almost stopped. “If the Hatter actually is at the casino, you know what this means, right? It means that Edward is _helping_ us.”

It was a reality that Dick hadn’t stooped to considered and now that he was he didn’t like it at all. “One problem at a time, Timmy, one problem at a time.” 

* * *

 The Mad Hatter was indeed seated around one of the many tables coloured in black and red checks and when they crashed through the skylight to land in the centre of the ruined game, chips and cards and coins scattering everywhere, the rest of the gamblers made the right choice and fled. Jervis, wide-eyed, was rooted to his seat. “You found me quick.” He gaped, making bug eyes at the door.

“We might have had a little help but it wasn’t all that hard,” Dick grabbed Jervis by the collar and lifted him out of his chair until his legs were dangling helplessly above the ground. “You’re going to tell me why you put that rabbit's head in the apartment tonight, and then I’m going to make sure you get your nice cozy room back at Arkham Asylum.”

Jervis’s lips twisted into a sneer and he reached a hand up to boldly shove the large green top hat that was slowly falling into his face back on the top of his head where it belonged. “Why? Did it hit a nerve that another one of you bat-brats was threatened?”

A long, wickedly sharp katana appeared under the Hatters' chin and Jervis gulped as Damian’s blade drew blood. “You know the location of Batman and you will tell us now, or soon enough I’ll make it so you won’t be saying very much at all.”

Dick held tight to Jervis as he desperately attempted to move away from the blade. “What makes you think I know? I’m the middle man- I do what I’m told, you detective folks should know that by now. I don’t know where the Batman is. All I know is that I’m doing this for the show and not the money so if you’re looking for something to blackmail me with, you’re not going to find anything worth your while.”

“You’re doing this for sport? Nobody is paying you?” Damian demanded, his sword still pressed firmly against Jervis’s larynx.

From the precarious position he was in, Jervis shrugged. “I don’t know what to tell you, Robin. Alice will tell you that. I sacrificed my dear friend for this practical joke and I didn’t even get a thank you!” He held out his hands- where once were crisp white gloves were now speckled and dripping in red. “I’ve still got his blood on my hands!”

Tim walked forward and interjected until the situation could go too far off the rails. “How did you know where to put the head?”

The face Jervis made was a cross between confusion, innocence and disbelief. “Harley Quinn told me where to put it. I didn’t know whose house it was and I really didn’t care until you came in here. Now I know one of you bat-brats lives there, I’m going to make a fortune. I hope it’s a girl- the blonde one maybe. She’d make a perfect Alice.”

Damian swung his sword down and sliced a shallow gash into the Hatter’s leg and Jervis screeched in pain. “We’re getting nowhere with him. I say we tie him up and leave him until the police arrive.”

“Don’t bother,” Barbara’s voice interjected through the coms. “I’ve already sent a GCPD dispatch to your location.”

“Copy, Oracle,” Dick dropped Jervis back onto the chair where the smaller man sat, panting. In the distance, he could hear the piercing wail of sirens. “Final question before the Commissioner comes in here and locks you back in your cell. What has Riddler got to do with this?”

“Riddler?” Jervis asked, looking genuinely confused. He didn’t even bother making a move to escape his impending and apparently inevitable doom. “He’s not a part of this. I haven’t seen him in months let alone worked with him and what the hell would he be doing getting into an organised, group crime like this? We all know that the brilliant fool works alone.”

Before Dick would ask any more questions, Tim placed a hand on his elbow. The bright car lights from the police cruises and torches shone through the windows and Damian had already grappled back up to the roof. “Nightwing, it’s time to leave. We’ll talk on the way.”

There were still so many things that Dick wanted to ask, so many questions that had been opened and left unanswered, but nevertheless, he knew Tim was right so her straightened up and glared down at Jervis before he grappled to the roof and followed his partners out.


	4. Frustration

The moment they were out of the casino; Dick threw his fist straight through a brick wall. Neither Tim or Damian made any comment about it and they stayed a few meters back as he gripped at his hair. “Robin,” Dick grit out and Damian snapped to attention. “Go on ahead. Tell the other’s what was found tonight.”

“Absolutely not,” Damian snapped. “I refuse. You need me here and I am of more use here with you than I am back at the Manor.”

Dick felt a wave of anger rippling through his body like a lightning bolt had struck him and now travelled through his entire soul- white hot and painful. “Robin, in light of recent events I am Batman’s second in command and that means you treat me with the same respect as you would treat him. So go back to the Batcave- that’s an order.” As an afterthought, because he heard the sharp intake of breath from behind him, he added a weak, “Please.”

There was silence behind him and Dick was worried for a moment that both Tim and Damian had taken off without a word but he could hear their hushed conversation. “Just do what he says,” Tim was saying gently. “He’s under a lot of stress right now with being Batman’s replacement in times like this and he’s just as scared as the rest of us. Just… go back home and we’ll meet you there.”

“But I want to help,” Damian sounded like a petulant child. “It’s not fair that you two get to go gallivanting after father when I have to stay home and wait for you to send word of some new evidence of his ware bouts.”

Tim sighed. “Cass is on her way. Go meet up with her and both of you can compare notes on what you found. That’d be the best thing you could help with right now.” Damian harrumphed and grumbled something under his breath but then he was grappling away and Tim was placing a hand on Dick’s shoulder blades from where he panted, hunched over the railing. “Dick, you need to relax.”

“How am I supposed to relax when Bruce, not just our mentor but our father, is missing?” Dick ground out but he knew Tim was right. He tried to keep his breathing even and his voice low. “How am I supposed to stay calm when the Riddler, a man we have put away countless times for his crimes, is helping us solve this?”

“I’m not sure, but there has to be something we can do to work this out,” Tim said. He knew that Dick was right and that no amount of science or evaluation would make this sensible, the same way no amount of comforting or sweet talking would make Dick take a breather. “This whole thing is just… it’s unsettling. I don’t know why the Riddler would be helping us. I don’t know why this whole thing is happening. I don’t know if we’re ever going to find him. But what I do know is that this, this whole beating yourself up and blaming yourself isn’t going to help anyone. It’s going to make you weak and when you get injured or sick, you know who’s going to be the de facto leader? _Jason_.” Tim shivered

Slowly, Dick turned around and faced Tim but he was still leaning heavily against the railing. There was a wan smile on his lips. “Jason? We’d be doomed.” He tried to be jovial but it was obvious that Tim wasn’t buying it so he gave up. “I just feel lost. Everything has been flipped on its head. Batman is missing. The bad guys are helping us. I haven’t heard from the Hatter in months and suddenly he’s a part of something like this? Everything is wrong.”

“I know.” Tim reached out and put on a hand on Dick’s arm and was surprised at how tense it was. “But we’ll find him- we always do. We’ll figure this out. But you don’t need to walk around with the weight of the world on your shoulders- there are lots of us. Let us share the burden.” He grabbed Dick’s arm and pulled him away from the building. “Come on- let’s go home. We’ll talk about it in the morning.”

Dick very much didn’t want to discuss it in the morning, he wanted to talk about it now and talk about it immediately, but Tim’s retreating back told Dick that the discussion was over and left him no choice but to follow him back to Wayne Manor.

What Dick really wanted to do was find Damian and apologise to him for what was said on the rooftops, but Damian was nowhere to be found, so Dick went first towards the Batcave. He wasn’t sure if it was just to extract himself from his uniform or if it was something more.

He didn’t get more than five steps into the cave, his mask already removed and in his hand, when he was stopped from walking towards the computer by someone clearing their throat behind him. He twisted to see Alfred standing in the dark, with a crisp white towel over his arm. “Alfred,” Dick said relieved. “Do you know where Damian is? I think I might have upset him while we were out on patrol.”

“He’s retired to his room,” Alfred said. Dick nodded in recognition and went to turn back to the computer but Alfred’s sharp voice cut through the quiet. “Which, incidentally, is where I believe you should be heading as well.”

“I know, Alf, I just need to check something first,” Dick insisted, tossing his domino mask on the console and sitting heavily on the chair. He swivelled it to face Alfred as he strode towards him with purpose. “I want to figure out the Riddler's latest haunt and also if there was any footage from the incident that we missed and-”

“All of which,” Alfred interrupted. “Can do done in the morning. Leave your suit here and I shall have it ready for you in the morning, but for now, I feel as though it’s in everyone’s best interests if you were to get some rest.”

“But-”

Alfred held up his hand and Dick’s complaint fell to silence. “No buts, Master Richard. You are much too old for them. Head up to bed and I shall have you summoned if anything happens while you are asleep. Off you go now, no more dillydallying.”

Reluctantly, Dick stripped himself of the Nightwing suit, left it on the floor and made his way past a very pleased Alfred to his bedroom, where he shut the door and turned off all the lights and collapsed onto the covers.

The rest Dick got that night was less of a sleep and more of him staring up at the ceiling and closing his eyes every now and then in a vague attempt to try and fall asleep, his mind too rattled and his body to tight to even relax into the freshly made bed that had been his for as long as he could remember, in a room with his name on it since he was a child, in a house that would belong to him if they couldn’t find Bruce.

He wasn’t sure what time it had been but he must have just begun to doze asleep when suddenly his shoulders were being squeezed and he was being shaken and he opened his eyes in the darkness to see nothing but a dark silhouette above him, strands of hair bushing at his face. Immediately, his arms rose to shove his assailant away but Cassandra was too quick for that and slapped his arms away. When Dick realised who it was and that he wasn’t being attacked, he stopped resisting and rubbed the sleep from his eyes. “Cass? What are you doing here? What’s wrong?”

She tried to tug him towards the door and wave her hands at him in urgency but Dick just shook his head in confusion. He tried not to get too short-tempered with Cassandra especially as they were both still learning each other’s languages and she felt better not speaking at all, but he was sore and he was worried and he just wanted some sleep. “I’m sorry Cass, I don’t understand.”

Huffing in annoyance, Cassandra threw her arms up above her head and marched over to his desk. She began shoving aside books and notes and went rifling through his drawers and eventually rose triumphant with a thick black marker and a blank sheet of paper. She scribbled something quick on if for a moment before turning back to Dick and shoving the paper into his arms.

Dick had to rub his eyes again to make sense of what he was seeing. In the centre of the page was a crudely drawn but unmistakable big black question mark drawn in permanent ink. When Dick looked back up at her, Cass was already holding the door open for him and he leapt out of bed, still in his pyjamas, and ran down the stairs.

Hopefully, that could only mean one of two things. One- Cass really had a wordless question that was so important that she needed to wake Dick up for. And two…

The living room was lively and bright as the rest of the family was gathered within it, talking quietly to themselves in hushed tones. Alfred was nursing a cup of tea in his favourite chair. Damian and Tim were having a swift discussion in the corner. Stephanie was watching the TV and the news bulletin that flashed past at the bottom of the screen _'has Gotham City's saviour abandoned us or has Batman finally fallen to the horrors of his city?'._  All conversation ceased when Dick entered, Cass close behind. “What is it?”

Surprisingly, it was Alfred who spoke, sighing into his tea and raising a hand to his head. “It would seem, Master Richard, that one of our party has come across another riddle.”


	5. Despair

“And you’re sure that’s what you saw?” Dick asked again as he paced the floor of the library back and forth as he tried to make sense of the riddle.

“Uh,” Jason said on the other line. “Pretty damn sure, Dicky bird.” His voice went muffled for a moment before it returned, clear as ever, and no less exasperated. “It was panted in green on the docks. Pretty hard to miss it. The only way it could have been more obvious if it was painted in glow-in-the-dark ink and had my name written there.”

Damian looked to be on the verge of screaming. “Enough with the _nonsense_ , Todd.”

Braving his teeth, Tim slapped a hand over Damian’s mouth, ignoring the younger man’s protests, and raised his voice so he could be heard over the phone. “Can you read it again, Jason?”

“Again?” Jason groaned. “You know I’ve read it three times already, right? Or did you guys just leave the phone in the room and walk away so I could talk to air?”

Dick wanted to say something mean, but Cassandra beat him to it. “Jay,” she said simply. “Read.” She nodded at Dick and sat back against the dresser. Jason always had liked Cass best, and she used that to her advantage more often than not.

There was a moment of squabbling from his side of the phone, the sound of air rushing quickly past the phone’s microphone before Jason sighed. “Fine. Hang on. Are you ready? _The stage is free for any kind- a very large man in a very large hat, a foolish man wrapped himself in binds and a very tiny man in the larger man’s lap._ Does that mean anything to anyone, because really, it just sounds like nonsense.”

Frowning, Cassandra pointed to Dick. “Circus?”

“No,” Dick shook his head. “It’s not a circus. I don’t know what other acts have, but we never had any of that, and neither has any other circus I’ve ever been to.”

“Master Dick, if I may,” Alfred said from where he was standing in the corner, mostly forgotten. “We’ve been at this for hours and still haven’t come up with anything. I suggest we take our leave, head back to bed, and sort this out in the morning. Look at it in a new light, so to speak.”

Exasperated, Dick ran a hand through his face. “Yeah, alright.” Louder he said, “Thanks for all your help, Jay. We’ll talk to you in the morning.”

“Damn right,” Jason grumbled before he hung up the call and the room was doused in silence.

Well, it would have been silence, except for Stephanie snoring in the chair in the corner, her head against the wall, drool down her chin, her hands crossed over her chest. Cassandra saw her, and crouched down by her side, trying to gently wake her up. “Oh, jeez- sorry guys. We’ve been here for way too long. I’ll talk to you in the morning too.”

He was out of the room before anyone could say anything, and he knew that everyone wanted to.

Back in the solidarity of his room, Dick let himself feel the frustration that had been boiling up inside him all night. His bed was unmade still from where he had leapt so quickly out of it in his haste to get downstairs, the blankets still mostly hanging over the sides. He was struck suddenly by how chilly his room was and remembered that he was wearing nothing but a pair of baby blue pyjama pants that Barbara had brought him for Christmas one year, and they were still a size too big for him but she was convinced that he would ‘grow into them’.

There was something painful and exhausted gnawing at his bones as he reached his hands up and tugged his fingers roughly at his hair. His body felt like shutting down, but at the same time, every molecule in his body was telling him to _find Bruce already!_ and even though Dick knew that it wasn’t his fault that Batman was still missing, he couldn’t help but feel guilty about needing to rest. Batman never rests. If it were one of them missing, Batman wouldn’t stop for a second until he found them, but here Dick was, exhausted and half-naked in his bedroom, and couldn’t even return the favour.

Frustration was welling up inside him faster than he could quell it but before he could act on his instinct to lash out at the closest object to him and watch in satisfaction as it shattered to pieces, he was interrupted by a knock on his door, quiet as not to disturb him if he wasn’t awake and also hard enough to insinuate that if he _was_ awake, he should open it. Breathing through his nose, Dick lowered his hands from his hair and did just that.

Tim was standing on the other side of the door, shuffling his feet at the threshold, and he looked up when the door opened, pushing his hair out of his eyes. He didn’t wait for Dick to invite him inside, just pushed past him and stood in the middle of the room with his arms crossed. “What the hell is wrong with you?”

Confused, Dick shut the door quietly and joined Tim further into the room. “For once, I honestly have no idea what you’re talking about.”

Looking around the room with an upturned nose, Tim started to tap his foot, probably subconsciously but it still annoyed Dick. “You do know that we’re going to get him back, right? He’s not gone forever. We haven’t lost hope. So why are you acting like you’re carrying the weight of the world on your shoulders and like you’ve given up?”

“Tim, I’m not in the mood.”

“Why are you acting like he’s dead?” Tim continued, voice getting more and more heated, and Dick couldn’t figure out where all his anger was coming from. “Why are you pretending like we’ve got no hope in hell in finding him?”

“Because maybe we don’t Tim!” Dick was surprised how loud his voice came out, even when he had intended it to be much softer. Tim took the step back that Dick wanted to take from his voice. “Do you know how long it’s been since he went missing? Do you? I’ve been counting the days, Tim, and statistically, there’s no way that we’ll find him. And if we do, there’s no way he’ll still be alive!”

Something unnatural crossed Tim’s face. “So that’s it, then? You’re just going to give up when he needs you most?”

Dick scoffed. “It’s Batman. He doesn’t need anyone, remember? If I had a nickel for how many times he told me that, I’d be as rich as he is.”

“You and I both know that isn’t true,” Tim said, and Dick refused to admit it. “Batman has always needed his Robin’s. If he didn’t, he never would have created us.”

“No, Tim, he created Robin because I was a scared little kid who needed direction and a distraction from hunting down the man who killed my parents,” Dick said and Tim flinched. They both knew he was right. It was just a matter of who would say it first. “And anyone who followed after me was, in his opinion, a mistake. You know why? Because more people got hurt. More lives were ruined and changed in unrepairable ways. More of us suffered. It should have just been me and Bruce and Alfred, because that way, you all would have been able to grow up like _kids_.”

Snorting, Tim waved his arms about the room. “What the hell are you talking about? If it weren’t for you and Robin, Jason would still be on the streets and trying to find the money to fund his parent's drug habits. I’d still be obsessed with pleasing my parents with high scores on school projects. Damian would have been nothing but a mindless killing machine. None of this, not Cass or Steph or Barbara, would have been possible. You want to look me in the eye and tell me that Robin never should have been? Stop kidding yourself, Dick.”

The rage that was boiling up inside of Dick was so unfamiliar and not yet directed at Tim. “Is there a reason you’re here,” he said slowly, lowly, his voice pitched to carry. “Or have you just come in here to give me crap about my legacy?”

Tim gave him a look that quelled the fire inside him for just a moment. Scoffing, Tim shook his head. “I came to tell you to keep fighting and not to give up hope. Because if you give up hope, then it’ll only be a matter of time before the rest of us follow suit. You might not believe it, but the rest of us, we look up to you. Sometimes, more so than Bruce and Alfred. Because you’ve been where we are, you’ve worn our shoes and donned our uniform- you know what it’s like to be a Robin.”

As Dick was trying to come up with a snarky reply, Tim already had the door open, one hand on the frame and light from the hallway spilling into the darkened room. “Batman needs all his Robin's working on this. Every single one. Every bird and every bat and every Robin.” He glanced back at Dick for a second before looking away. “I came in here to tell you not to lose faith, but I guess you already have.”

The door was closing and Tim was gone before Dick could utter his reply.

Frustrated and furious, a guttural roar ripped itself from Dick’s throat involuntarily as he turned to the nearest available surface and through his fist through the wall.


End file.
